How to Build a Minimalist Wardrobe for Kids

While building a minimalist wardrobe for kids may seem counter-intuitive, doing so can simplify your life and be a learning opportunity for you and your children.

Over the past several months, I’ve been going through my own clothes, working to simplify my wardrobe into something similar to a capsule wardrobe. I talk a bit about this in my post “Let’s Talk About Minimalism.” When it comes to simplifying my children’s wardrobe, it doesn’t seem as easy. As we all know, children go through clothes so quickly. They don’t just need seasonal wardrobes, they need 0-3 month wardrobes and 3-6 month wardrobes and 6-12 month wardrobes and so on. So, how do you build a minimalist wardrobe for your children?

After our first child, I held on to a few clothing items in case we decided to have another one, and these clothes accumulate quickly. With our second child, I had a better idea of what to give away and what to keep, and so have fewer clothes in storage. Now that my kids are toddlers, most of our stored clothes are either seasonal or clothes that they will eventually grow into. If you’re given hand me downs on a regular basis, or if you have relatives who are always buying you clothes, I think it’s worth keeping things that you know your kids will be able to wear eventually.

This is where building a minimalist wardrobe starts. Don’t keep everything you’re given. Keep things you like and then give the rest away even if a relative bought it for you. And generally, I only keep about a week to 10 days worth of clothes for my kids each season. So, literally 7-10 shirts, pants, and twice as many pairs of underwear. We may keep a few more things than this. For example, our daughter has some dresses. Some clothing items are multi season like jeans. We have one fall jacket and one winter coat for them, as well as one seasonal pair of shoes that will go with anything. Maybe you’d like to keep a raincoat and rain boots as well.

Now, I know that most children go through more than one pair of clothes during the day for obvious reasons, but whether or not we have two weeks’ worth of clothes for them or one week’s, we’re always washing clothes. So, I don’t really see a need to have more than a week to 10 days worth of clothing for my children. But like I’ve said, I do have more clothes stored away for them. With this in mind, if you’re interested in simplifying the clothes you have for your children, consider using the capsule wardrobe method for them as well as yourself. Season by season, keep about 33 articles of clothing and accessories available for them to wear and keep the rest keep stored away.

Initially, thinking about building a minimalist wardrobe for your children may seem counter intuitive. Children get clothes dirty and usually go through more than one set a day. They grow like crazy and need new clothes more often. But it doesn’t mean we can’t keep their wardrobe simple. Perhaps doing this could help de-clutter our children’s lives as well as our own and become a learning/teaching opportunity for us as they begin to develop their own sense of style.

What do you think? How many clothes do you keep for your children and why? We’d love to hear from you!